Ward No. 14: Focus on better infrastructure

KOLKATA: Karunamoyee Island, opposite Central Park in Salt Lake, is the nearest landmark. Welcome to Ward 14, the home turf of many a stalwart. The high-profile ward, reserved for women, has three female candidates in the fray — some greenhorns, but all from prestigious families.
The ward, carved out from Ward 15, used to be the home turf of many stalwarts.Former Bidhannagar municipality chairman Dilip Gupta was elected from this ward twice — in 1995 and 2000 — and handed the mantle to outgoing chairman Biswajiban Majumdar in 2005.
Meet Nilanjana Manna, a social worker who had worked with various institutions till she was drawn into Trinamool Congress last year. She is the daughter of illustrious footballer Sailen Manna. Rita Majumdar of CPM, on the other hand, is a housewife in her fifties, who has left it to her party to help her through.
Pitted against the two is Snigdha Bose of Congress, an experienced hand, who fought the elections from Ward 12 in 2000, but lost to sitting Trinamool councillor Tulshi Sinha Roy.
The location of the ward suggests it's a little different from other wards that have individual houses. The ward is restricted to a housing estate — Karunamoyee Abashan — mostly inhabited by salaried people. People in this ward have easy access to Sector V, the state's IT hub, state government offices, the Internal Bus Terminus and the proposed Metro station at Central Park, which attracts people from outside. The need for infrastructure in this ward — from road to electricity, and services from water to street lights — is, thus, much higher than other wards.
Each of the three contenders is working overtime to impress voters with tangible promises. One thing is common to their campaign: they all promise to tackle problems of infrastructure — water supply, drainage and sewerage and, above all, security to senior citizens who stay alone while the family members go out to work during the day.
"Water supply has been a longstanding problem for residents of Karunamayee. This is the major area of concern. This apart, security matters are also another area of concern. The Left-run board has not been able to set up a public toilet in the area since 1995. It's unhygienic," said Trinamool candidate Nilanjana, who wants to come out of her father's shadow.
Snigdha of Congress agrees. "Apart from shortage of water supply, the old sewer network in the area needs to be revamped. Plus, a lot of full-grown trees have been felled in this area. I will try to preserve the greenery, which has been our asset," she said.
CPM's Rita Majumdar, however, shied away from making any comment. She, instead, wanted her party leaders to do the talking for her.